HOW TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU’RE WATCHING

BACKGROUND AND TYPES 1&2

The 12 types of Advertising

Donald Gunn

Worked as Creative Director for a very large advertising company called Leo Burnett.

“What makes some advertisements successful?”

Decided to take a year off from his job and analyzed as

many commercials as he could. He decided that thereare 12 different types, or “formats” of all successful advertisements.

The 12 Types of Advertising

1. Demo2. Show the Problem / Solution3. Symbolize the Problem4. Symbolize the Benefits 5. Comparison6. Exemplary Story

7. Benefit Causes Story8. Testimonial9. Ongoing Characters / Celebrities10. Associated User Imagery11. Unique Personality / Property12. Parody / Borrowed Format

*Few ads are ONLY 1 type – just like music, ads can be several types at the same time.

Remember

Many songs use more than one type of music (hip/hop and pop)

Some movies combine different styles (comedy and adventure)

Ads also mix different types.

The main idea of learning these types of advertising is to make you understand what techniques are being used to

make you want to buy what advertisers are selling.

If you understand how products are being shown to you, you can make better choices in what you decide to spend

your money on.

Type 1: Demo

Show the product and what it can do. This type usually falls into two categories: aggressive and repetitive ("hard sell"), or simple presentation without pressuring the viewer directly ("soft sell").

GinsuSamsoniteCalamari

Type 2: Show the Problem / Solution

The basic idea of this type of ad is "Here is a problem - this product can solve it".

This is also one of the oldest and most popular of all advertising types.

SnuggieDropped CallLunk

Which is which?

Wearable TowelSham WowGLHUroclubIAB

Review:

How many different types of advertising?What is the name of the man who introduced this

idea?What was his job? What company did he work for?How long did he study commercials?What is the first type of commercial? The second?What is the difference between “hard sell” and “soft

sell” techniques? Which type do you prefer?What is ‘calamari’? What’s a LUNK?Complete these sentences:

“In Japan, the hand can be used as a _______.” “But wait – there’s ______.” “________ ________ would you pay?”